Slide bars for guitars have been in use for years. Due to the ever increasing popularity of the use of slide bars, slide bar holders have been introduced.
Prior devices include the “Slide Bar Pouch” described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,238,871. Generally, this device provides a pouch for holding the slide bar when not in use by the performer. Though this device does indeed hold the slide bar, its design makes it nearly impossible for the performer to retrieve the slide bar from the pouch or replace it into the pouch without great difficulty. This device fails to provide for rapid, efficient, and secure placement and replacement of the slide bar in a convenient location on the instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,323,409 describes a “Slide Bar Clip.” This device is apparently made of a pliable, bendable bar of metal with its surface covered in a felt or rubber material to protect the finish of the instrument. One end of the device is shaped to conform to the depth of the guitar or other instrument. The other end is shaped to allow the slide bar to be placed within a sort of clip which is expected to hold the slide bar in place while not in use. This device has several disadvantages. First, the section that bends around the body of the instrument will inevitably fail because of eventual metal fatigue. Secondly, the clip portion of the device that actually holds the slide bar while not in use would likely fail for the same reason. Finally, the design of the clip extends the arm of the clip inside the barrel of the slide bar. This renders the clip nearly useless because the arm of the clip prevents easy and comfortable entry of the finger of the performer into the barrel of the slide bar. Further, the replacement of the slide bar is clumsy, uncomfortable, and in most cases results in fumbling or dropping the slide bar altogether.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,445 describes a “Guitar Slide Bar Holder” which is an elastic tubular band of material attached to the back of a guitar strap. This device also has several disadvantages. First, the device is nearly inaccessible to the slide bar finger hand of the performer. In other words, it would be very difficult to access the slide bar quickly, and nearly impossible to replace it quickly. Further, after removal from the device, the elastic will most likely collapse, making it extraordinarily difficult for the performer to replace the slide bar with one hand. The performer will likely have to use the other hand to re-open the elastic surface of the barrel shaped device.
All of the aforementioned devices fail to provide a fast, easy, efficient and secure structure in which the slide bar can be placed, retained, retrieved and replaced without undo burden on the performer. The main problems associated with these conventional slide bar holders are: (1) they do not allow the performer to have easy, quick, and secure access to the slide bar; (2) they do not provide a way to replace the slide bar easily, efficiently and quietly so that the slide bar may be retrieved at any time without dropping it; and (3) they do not allow the performer to quickly, comfortably and securely place a finger back into the slide bar for retrieval. While these other devices may be suitable for some purposes, they do not provide the performer an easy, fast, quiet and secure method of retrieving and replacing a guitar slide bar in any given type of performance venue or situation.